Crime & Deviance: Globalisation & crime

What is Globalisation?

The increasing interconnectedness of societies, so that what happens in one locality is shaped by distant events and vice versa.

Causes of globalisation

•The spread of ICT

\
•Global Mass Media (TV & Film)

\
•Cheap air travel

\
•Deregulation of financial and other markets

\
•Easier movement - allowing businesses to relocate around the globe/increase profits

Globalisation creates..

1\.New opportunities for crime

2\.New means of committing crime

3\.New crimes

How much is the global criminal economy worth? (Manuel Castells)

There is now a global criminal economy worth over £1 trillion per annum

Forms of global crime

* Arms trafficking
* Sex tourism
* Trafficking of body parts (It is estimated that 2,000 organs are taken from executed criminals in China)
* Cyber crimes
* Green crimes
* International terrorism
* The drugs trade
* Trafficking women and children
* Trafficking cultural artefacts

Transnational organised crime- Supply and demand

__South (Poorer)__

•Countries such as Columbia, have large populations of impoverished people

•Drug cultivation is an attractive option

•In Columbia estimated 20% of the population depends on cocaine production for livelihood

\
__West (Richer)__

•There is a huge __**demand**__ for illicit products/services

•E.g. drugs, sex workers

•According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), human trafficking in the UK increased by more than 80% in 2016-2017.

Global risk consciousness (Beck)

•Globalisation creates new insecurities and __**‘risk consciousness’**__ on a global scale

\
•‘Risk’ seen as global rather than local

•E.g. Increased immigration has given rise to anxieties in the West about the risk of crime and the need to protect their borders…

\
•Media create moral panic and folk devil groups

•E.g. negative coverage of immigrants as scroungers ‘flooding’ the country

\
•Leads to the __**intensification of social control**__ at a national level, and international level – increased hate crime/state crimes

The collapse of communism, globalisation and crime

The physical fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 signalled the end of this divide – an end to communist rule and power of the USSR and the move towards democracy

\
However, as this happened there was a period of transition

\
__FALL of USSR__

\-End of state control

\-Agents of the state eg state police etc broken down

\-Unemployment rises

\
Creates significant instability = breading ground for crime

McMafia (Misha Glenny)

•Collapse of Communism - led to deregulated prices of goods

\
•Anyone with money could buy up oil, diamonds and metals cheap - then sell them on in the west for vast profit

\
•New Russian Mafias emerged– made up of ex KGB officers and criminals

•Purely economic organisations – (unlike the old family ties of the Italian and American mafias)

\
•They ‘franchised’ operations around the world using their ‘brand’ – just like McDonalds

Greater inequality & rising crime rates (Taylor)

Globalisation has created greater inequality and rising crime at both ends of the social spectrum.

\
•Deregulation of financial markets and use of the internet has led to insider trading and tax avoidance by moving funds around the globe.

•Transnational corporations exploit cheap labour in the South, evading higher wages and health and safety regulations in the West

•De-industrialisation creates a lack of legitimate job opportunities in the west (coupled with media promoting a materialistic/consumer culture –> relative deprivation) the poor turn to street crime (Left Realists)

‘Glocal’ organisation (Hobbs)

•Patterns of criminal organisations have changed due to globalisation

\
•Globalisation has led to **‘glocal’** criminal organisations

\
•Crime has become individualised – opportunistic entrepreneurs, with global contacts can deal

\
•These are fluid networks and ‘franchises’ rather than traditional ‘mafia’ style fixed hierarchies

\
•This means global crime rates will differ between different local areas as it is affected by local conditions – **links to Cloward and Ohlin**

\
*The international drugs trade and human-trafficking require local networks of drug dealers and pimps to organise supply at a local level (County Lines).*

Evaluation of globalisation & crime

POS: Is valuable as it focuses on the newest forms of crime.

POS: It has led to the development of international law enforcement agencies, to try and make the lives of offenders more difficult (e.g. Interpol).

\
NEG: BUT global crime is very hard to investigate – secretive and complex in nature.

NEG: Dependence on secondary sources (problem?); as primary research may be dangerous.

NEG: It is easy to exaggerate the significance of globalisation – it has affected some countries more than others

NEG: Can be argued that a ‘glocal’ structure has always existed in the illegal drugs trade

Types of cyber-crime (Wall)

1. Cyber-trespass:
* Spreading viruses or hacking into other systems without permission.
2. Cyber-deception and theft:
* Identity theft or stealing from bank accounts
3. Cyber-pornography:
* The sharing and watching of child pornography. 
4. Cyber-violence:
* Causing emotional harm or encouraging physical violence online.